Yoann Kongolo Out Against Nieky Holzken at GLORY 45, Alim Nabiyev In

Late replacements happen all of the time in fight sports, seemingly more often in kickboxing, which is just the nature of the sport and the preparation, I suppose. On the latest episode of the LiverKick Podcast Jay and myself talk about how GLORY’s weight classes feel a bit stale near the top of the division, with the same few fighters going at it without much variation.

So Nieky Holzken vs. Yoann Kongolo at GLORY 45 was a decent fight, but a fight that we’ve already seen and weren’t exactly excited about seeing again. GLORY announced today that Kongolo is no longer fighting Holzken, although no concrete reason was given, and that his replacement is Russian fighter Alim Nabiyev. Nabiyev has built up an impressive resume for himself at Welterweight, including wins over Armen Petrosyan, Yohan Lidon, Aziz Kallah, Chad Sugden and more. Now he’ll make his GLORY debut against one of the best Welterweights in the world in Nieky Holzken and we’ll have a chance to see the division shaken up, possibly.